Debate: Time for Wenger to go?

Comment: Wenger open to scrutiny

Arsène Wenger has accused opponents of trying deliberately to injure his players and added that he was willing to risk being charged by the FA for stating his opinions. The Arsenal manager’s comments were provoked by several tackles from Stoke City players in the 2-1 defeat at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as a result of which three members of his team suffered injuries.

Emmanuel Adebayor, with a damaged Achilles that is likely to keep him out for three weeks, is the most high-profile casualty, after finding himself on the receiving end of a tackle from behind by Ryan Shawcross when the ball appeared to be out of play.

Theo Walcott was carried off with a shoulder injury after a Rory Delap challenge, while Bacary Sagna received an ankle injury from the same Stoke player. Walcott will miss the Champions League group G match against Fenerbahçe this evening. “All the players have been injured deliberately,” Wenger said. “[Do] you want me to show the X-rays of our players? The brave one is not the one who tackles from behind the player who tries to play football. That is the coward.

“You need to have more courage to play when you know that someone is tackling you from behind without any intention to play the ball. The only intention is to hurt you. If Walcott is in front of you, do you think I’m stupid, I know he is three times quicker than I am and I still tackle him from behind. Do you really think I try to play the ball?”

The FA is considering Wenger’s comments and the Frenchman could be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Wenger said that referees have a duty to protect players, but he believes nothing will change. “I don’t think I’m surprised by what happened or that I’m scandalised,” Wenger said. “I know it’s the rules here. I say what I think, what I see on the pitch, and I am entitled to do that. If it is physical, it is fantastic. But just to kick him out of the game . . .”

Wenger has made similar calls for protection in previous years, notably when Abou Diaby suffered a broken ankle after a two-footed lunge by Daniel Smith, of Sunderland, 2½ years ago and Eduardo da Silva suffered a fractured left fibula and dislocated ankle after a tackle by Martin Taylor, the Birmingham City defender, in February.

Wenger congratulated Stoke for their victory, but felt it was a step too far when his team were labelled not brave. “I have to swallow that Sagna and Walcott are not brave,” Wenger said. “Then you read in the newspapers our players are cowards, they do not like it, they do not fancy it. We are kicked and on top of that we are cowards.”

Wenger’s anger was, in part, provoked by Thomas Sorensen’s claim that Arsenal lacked the “bit of spine you need”. The Stoke goalkeeper fell to the ground after Robin van Persie’s barge, for which the Holland forward was sent off. “Have you seen in slow motion where Van Persie touched him?” Wenger said. “He acted like he’s two months in hospital. He’s [Sorensen] one of those who talks a lot.”

Peter Coates, the Stoke chairman, rejected Wenger’s claims. “I am very disappointed in what he has said,” Coates said. “That wasn’t the game I saw, it wasn’t the game the fans at the ground saw and it wasn’t the game that the referee saw. There was only one player who got sent off and that was an Arsenal player. We don’t have nasty players in the team who go out to injure players.”

Wenger added that Arsenal should be judged at the end of this month, in which they play Manchester United in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, followed by Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea.

Rules of engagement: the incidents against Stoke that provoked anger

Arsène Wenger was angered by three bad fouls on his Arsenal players during their 2-1 defeat away to Stoke City on Saturday, a game in which the only red card was received by Robin van Persie, the Arsenal substitute (Bill Edgar writes).

Tackle one While Emmanuel Adebayor, the Arsenal forward, is shielding the ball on the Arsenal left as it runs into touch, Ryan Shawcross lunges at him from behind when it seems impossible to win the ball legally. The Stoke player’s studs land on his opponent’s foot and Adebayor is eventually forced to leave the game after 73 minutes.

X-Rating (out of five): XXXXX

Tackle two Ten minutes into the second half, Bacary Sagna, the Arsenal right back, is bursting down the wing near the halfway line. Rory Delap, of Stoke, leaps into a challenge from behind, planting his foot into the right ankle of Sagna, who is substituted shortly afterwards.

X-Rating: XXXX

Tackle three As Theo Walcott accelerates towards the penalty area, Delap attempts a hooked tackle from behind, although, in his defence, he is slightly to the side so could in theory get the ball. But Walcott is too quick and is sent flying, having to leave the pitch with a shoulder injury.

X-Rating: XXX

Tackle four As Thomas Sorensen, the Stoke goalkeeper, wastes time by waiting to gather a loose ball, a frustrated Van Persie tries in vain to reach it before his opponent picks it up. But the Dutchman’s momentum carries him into Sorensen and, rather than try to pull away, he barges the goalkeeper off his feet.

X-Rating: XX